


Day of Birth

by sev313



Category: Babylon 5
Genre: Baking, Birthday, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-23
Updated: 2011-11-23
Packaged: 2017-10-26 12:28:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/283128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sev313/pseuds/sev313
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Birthdays aren’t usually celebrated on either Centauri Prime or the Narn homeworld.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day of Birth

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the B5 month of love. This is short and kinda ridiculous, but it’s my first foray into these characters, so please forgive me.

Celebrating birthdays is strictly an Earth custom. On Centauri Prime, the only significance of one’s day of birth is for the Emperor, in which case it’s used as another excuse for a party. Or, on the rare occasion, for an enemy to play a particularly ironic joke. On Narn, there are more things to worry about on the day of birth than jotting down the date and time.

So, when Londo enters G’Kar’s quarters to find him covered head-to-toe in a fluffy white substance, grinning over what can only be described as a Birthday cake, Londo can only squint and remember back to a similar concoction at Ivanova’s so-called Birthday Party a couple of months back. But, there had been copious amounts of champagne that night, and he can’t be sure.

“What is this?”

G’Kar should have been hurt, he really should have, but after doing this for so long, he remains pretty much un-phased by Londo’s pursed lips and disdainful tone. Instead, he points at the cake and grins wider. “Mr. Garibaldi has been teaching me how to, what’s it called? Oh, yes, how to _bake_.”

“ _Bake_?”

“Yes. Bake.” The word is said with much more assurance this time, as if G’Kar’s decided to just go along with it, rather or not he’s remembered the right term for the cake in front of him.

“But why, hmm? Is it a special occasion I should know about?” Londo reaches a finger out to swipe a dab of icing of the top, and G’Kar reaches out to swat his hand away. Londo raises the finger to his lips and tastes gingerly. “Mmm, this is actually quite good. Are you sure _you_ made it?”

“Of course I made it. Who else around here would slave for hours in the kitchen to make something like this for someone like you?”

“You are right there.” Londo grins, dragging a chair forward and checking it for bits of flour and egg before sitting down.

“Oh,” G’Kar looks around for a moment, digging under empty cartons to pull out a rather wet and dirty piece of paper, which he hands over triumphantly. “This came for you today. I intercepted the courier and promised I would get it to you.”

“What-?” Londo begins to ask, before he looks down and notices his eldest ex-wife’s handwriting. So, it is the second reason, then, for a Centauri to remember the day of his birth. He should have known. “My ex-wife.”

“Oh, yes. She hates you, quite a lot.”

“Yes, yes, I know.”

“She also mentions,” G’Kar reaches across the counter to point at a specific passage, “that today is the anniversary of the day of your birth.”

“She would know, I suppose.” Londo drops the page to the counter and frowns at it. “She would find it _ironic_ to off me today. I suppose you are marking this day for the same reason, yes?”

“To kill you?” G’Kar does a perfect imitation of Ivanova raising her eyebrow and Londo can’t help but chuckle.

“Yes, G’Kar, to kill me.”

“If I was going to kill you, would I have not done so in your sleep these last few months? It would have been a lot less messy.” He motions to the disastrous state of his quarters and Londo chuckles again.

“You were buttering me up for this day all along. Lulling me into a false sense of security.”

“Precisely.”

“Explains everything, finally.”

When they had started this thing, all those months ago, it wasn’t supposed to last. It wasn’t supposed to be anything more than _the world’s ending tomorrow, so damn the consequences ‘cause we won’t be alive to face them anyway_. Except, the world didn’t end. Not the next day. Nor the day after that. And now, Londo wakes every morning to find his tentacles tingling and a dark, Narn-shaped arm around his waist. And, the worst part of all? He’s _used_ to it. So used to it, in fact, that he not only _expects_ it, but he’ll miss it when it’s gone.

But, these are worries for other Centauris, the ones who don’t get to celebrate their birthdays and the ones who don’t have Narns with spit-eating grins leaning across the counter at them. And Londo can’t do anything but lean over the counter and give G’Kar a soft kiss as he takes the offered slice of cake and grin back.

“Happy Birthday Mollari.”


End file.
